It was Valentine's Day and I had taken the day off, using a 'time-off-in-lieu' day after working over a recent weekend, planning to spend it with my wife. That morning, I saw that the long-staying drake Mandarin duck (my post from when I visited in November 2024) had been reported again but we had a plumber coming over to investigate a leak. Despite this Charlotte said I could go see the duck, its appearances had become somewhat intermittent and work usually kept me from going during the week. We agreed to stick to our plan of having lunch out and then going to see the duck together afterward. However, I was a bit concerned when Graham Lenton, who regularly reports on the bird, sent me a message: "Come before lunch, as it sometimes flies off for the day."
The Yurt Café at Nicholsons Garden Centre, located in North Aston, offers a different dining experience within a handcrafted yurt made from upcycled materials. The café is nestled amidst a 23-acre plant nursery on the edge of the Cotswolds and features a Michelin-recommended menu that changes frequently to reflect seasonal availability; the dishes are Mediterranean-influenced. You can take your meal inside the yurt or opt for one of the themed private huts available alongside.
After a lovely lunch, we arrived at the Village Hall and spotted the mandarin preening as we approached. It busily scurried around, seemingly protecting a female mandarin it had taken a shine to. Soon, a couple appeared on the higher side of the bank, and the ducks eagerly approaching them, likely expecting food, despite signs stating that feeding them was not allowed. Judging by their reaction, it seemed people often ignore this.
Having taken a few photographs and having shown them to Charlotte, I noticed that I hadn't put a card back into the camera - what a schoolboy error! 🥴 I collected another from my bag and rectified the situation, taking some more photos. I'll need to set the camera to clearly indicate that there is no card and avoid this situation reoccurring.
He almost continuously had his distinctive 'sail' feathers raised (the orange, upright plumes on his back) to make himself appear larger and more striking, chasing away rival male (mallards). I had a chat to Graham before we made for home.
Kev and I talked about our plans for Saturday, keeping the weather forecast in mind. It predicted persistent rain everywhere except Scotland, Cornwall, and the southeast of England. We settled on Staines Reservoir, hoping to see the black-necked grebes in good numbers, along with a Slavonian grebe and two great northern divers. There was no reason to think the previous day's sightings would change, especially considering the incoming weather front. At the southern end of the reservoir, our usual breakfast spot was just minutes from where we would park before climbing up onto the causeway.
We checked out the ducks on the water and spotted a single female goldeneye swimming away, but little else of note.
As we crossed the causeway, we met a couple of birders heading the other way. They mentioned having only seen a great northern diver and some black-necked grebes about halfway along the western edge of the northern water. When we reached the best vantage point, we searched the area they had indicated but found only little grebes. The great northern diver, meanwhile, was as far away as it could possibly be. Then, a smallish bird flitted in the corner of the northern section; on closer inspection, it turned out to be a common sandpiper, a year tick.
As we began our walk back across the causeway, I paused to take a record shot of the great northern diver, followed by a pair of red-breasted mergansers on the southern section, a rare sighting for this location. Meanwhile, Kev scanned the northern section with his scope and spotted the second great northern diver. Despite sharing the same body of water, the site is so vast that the two birds were roughly 650–700 meters apart.
We ran into one of the birders again on our way back, and he informed us that the Slavonian grebe had been spotted at the southern end of the reservoir, closer to where we had parked. Reaching the end of the low fencing, we scanned the opposite shore and located a group of at least eight black-necked grebes, with the Slavonian grebe among them. They were nearly 750 meters away! The birds dived frequently, feeding right, and once we took our eyes off them, they vanished completely; remarkable how easily they disappeared from view.
Later, we spotted the Slavonian grebe far off to our left, while the red-breasted mergansers moved away from the back and toward the centre of the water.
With all our target birds spotted - though too distant for decent photos - we decided to head back to the car and make our way to Staines Moor, where water pipits have been reported. These birds are regular winter visitors, typically seen from late autumn through early spring, favouring the site's alluvial flood meadows and wetter areas.
As we reached the car, we heard the unmistakable calls of ring-necked parakeets and soon spotted five perched on the rooftops and trees ahead. I moved closer and managed to snap a few photos just before they departed.
We hadn't explored this part of Staines Moor before and initially drove past the entrance, only to park up and return. After putting on our wellie boots, we crossed the railway line and made our way onto the moor, where Kev mentioned the birds had been pin-dropped. We spotted some pied wagtails flitting around, followed by a few meadow pipits. After a few minutes, we locked onto a single water pipit — tick! We hadn’t ventured far onto the moor and found our target bird at the very first wet pool.
Just then, another birder approached from the opposite direction and stopped ahead of us, likely spotting the same bird. A dog walker passed by, heading to the right of our bird, thankfully not getting too close. Annoyingly, the dog—off-lead decided to charge straight through the area, flushing the birds. Grr ... not even a raised hand in apology.
We continued and joined the other birder, agreeing there was definitely one water pipit. As we watched, we spotted another four, bringing the total to five. We watched them feeding until they were eventually flushed by another dog.
Before the other birder left, he shared that some dog-walkers had told him that they'd encountered a barn owl - he then proceeded to find it hundreds of meters away on the hedge line below the King George VI Reservoir - only viewable through a scope.
We discussed what to do next and decided to make our way further onto the moor to get a better feel for the place, coming across a handful of stonechats and chiffchaffs. We were glad to have taken our wellies.
We reached an area along the River Colne where a distant row of trees came into view, and we spotted a dark-phase buzzard perched among them. A male kestrel flew past before the buzzard took off and flew away to our left. As we began heading back, I turned to see a barn owl hunting in the trees behind us, possibly the same one we had seen earlier. We watched as it perched on a tree, waiting for it to take off. Eventually, it flew behind the treeline and out of sight. A female kestrel was also perched on a bush beside the track. Occasionally a few spots of rain would fall.
We spotted three birders / photographers walking across the other side of the river and watched as the barn owl appeared, flying along the far hedge line while hunting. After a while, it perched in a tree for a few minutes before heading back along the hedge line. We suspected they might have had some prior information as to where best to stand, as a couple of short-eared owls had been reported the day before.
We watched as they settled back down, at least until the owl started back along the hedge line - except on inspection we found it was a short-eared owl this time. It hunted again at distance from where we stood, eventually working up and down and landing on the top of a bare bush. Short-eared owls are regular winter visitors to Staines Moor and are known to frequent the moor's wetter areas, where they hunt for small mammals and birds. Though their numbers can vary from year to year, they are a fairly consistent presence during the colder months and are often spotted hunting during the day, especially in the late afternoon.
We walked along to a bridge crossing the river but didn’t head out to where the three birders were. The short-eared owl had moved further along the hedge, and we were soon joined by another birder. Almost immediately, he spotted another short-eared owl perched at the top of a bush behind us - what a result! After a couple of minutes, it took off, giving us a reasonably close fly-past before hunting over the area between us and some nearby bushes. Eventually, it retreated to the far hedge on the other side of the river.
Happy with our day's adventures we worked back, hoping to see the water pipits again but found the pool was devoid of life. We headed back to the car and home, finding that it had been wet much of the day – we’d made a good decision on our trip today.
Year list: 124.
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